News in brief

Staff at McDonald's will gain the equivalent of A-levels in running burger restaurants after the fast food giant won government approval to become an exam board. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has approved the "basic shift manager" course. Network Rail and the airline Flybe were also approved to award their own qualifications. The initiative aims to give official credit to training which would otherwise not be widely recognised outside the firms concerned, but universities and the admissions service, Ucas, will decide whether the courses will be a good preparation for higher education. Helen Pidd

Guardian film on Iraq shortlisted for award

A documentary about the life of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians in the notorious Triangle of Death west of Baghdad has been shortlisted for the Royal Television Society awards' international news category. Inside The Surge was produced by Guardian Films and Channel 4 and shot by the Guardian photographer Sean Smith, who spent two months embedded with US soldiers. Filmed in April and May 2007, the documentary highlights the chaos of the war. During filming at least six soldiers were killed. The documentary won critical acclaim when broadcast by the US network ABC. Owen Bowcott

Survey finds 46% of clothes remain unworn

Almost half of the clothes in Britain's wardrobes go unworn, according to a survey from Oxfam and Marks & Spencer. A YouGov report, commissioned to mark the first day of the M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange, shows that 46% of people's clothes - an estimated 2.4bn items - were not worn once in the last year. The exchange is designed to encourage people to give unwanted clothes to Oxfam. From today, customers making a donation of M&S clothes to one of Oxfam's 790 stores in Britain and Ireland will receive a voucher worth £5 to use with a purchase of £35 or more at M&S. Rebecca Smithers

Mother still baffled by son's suicide

The mother of a young man found hanging less than two months after his best friend died in similar circumstances said yesterday she could not understand why it happened. Beverley Jenkins, from Bridgend, south Wales, said her 22-year-old son Leigh was distraught when Alan Price died in April last year but seemed to recover. The area has seen the suspected suicides of 13 young people in the last year. Jenkins told Wales On Sunday: "I would never have imagined the internet had anything to do with Leigh's death, which is why I was so shocked when I found out he was using the internet the night he died." Press Association

Police name couple killed in helicopter crash

A married couple killed when their helicopter crashed while taking off at a luxury hotel in Yorkshire were named by police yesterday. Paul Spencer, 43, was killed instantly alongside his wife Linda, 59, when the Gazelle helicopter crashed in the grounds of Rudding Park hotel at Harrogate on Saturday. The couple lived in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, and ran Country Baskets, a business selling dried flowers. Yesterday the wreckage remained cordoned off as experts looked for clues to the crash. Weather forecasters said high winds had subsided by the time of the crash, but it was still gusty. Press Association